Tres Leches (Milk Cake)

SUBMITTED BY: Stephanie PHOTO BY: jonny's girl

"This cake is made with three layers: Cake, filling, and topping. There are 4 types of milk in the filling and topping (whole milk, condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream). This is an excellent cake for milk lovers!"

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Original recipe yield 1 -9x13 inch cake

SERVINGS

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Servings
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INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup white sugar
5 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups whole milk
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9x13 inch baking pan.
Sift flour and baking powder together and set aside.
Cream butter or margarine and the 1 cup sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs and the 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract; beat well.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture 2 tablespoons at a time; mix until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes. Pierce cake several times with a fork.
Combine the whole milk, condensed milk, and evaporated milk together. Pour over the top of the cooled cake.
Whip whipping cream, the remaining 1 cup of the sugar, and the remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla together until thick. Spread over the top of cake. Be sure and keep cake refrigerated, enjoy!

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REVIEWS

Reviewed on apr. 1, 2007 by Peggy Ann

Full Review

The reviewer gave this recipe 5 stars. This recipe averages a 4.44 star rating.

Peggy Ann
apr. 1, 2007

I made this cake yesterday and it turned out very well. I live on the Mexican border so I have had this cake many times in restaurants and at parties. I did make a few changes to lesson the calorie and fat content and it still tasted authentic. First I would tell you to read the directions carefully. The cake has 3 parts ; batter,filling and topping. The first 6 ingredients make the batter. Be sure to put only one cup of sugar in the batter not 2. The next 3 ingredients make the 3 milk mixture for the filling hence the name three milk cake. I chose not to use whole milk but used 1% and used only 1 cup along with the other 2 milks. I made the cake in a 9x13 pan not a round pan as seen in the picture. The cake was a little flat but that is ok because as you add the 3 milk mixture it expands . After the cake was done I pierced the cake many times with a fork , all over the cake. You want to make a lot of holes for the milk to saturate the cake. After you pour the milk on , you want to cover with foil and refrigerate for several hours. I chose to use cool whip as the topping instead of the whipping cream-sugar mixture. That cut down on a lot of the calories and was very good. After I covered the saturated cake with cool whip I covered with foil again and refrigerated for another several hours. You want it to be very cold when you serve it. I know this has been long but wanted to share my changes and suggestions on making this cake. Good luck!

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246 users found this review helpful

I made this cake yesterday and it turned out very well. I live on the Mexican border so I... MORE

Reviewed on nov. 7, 2007 by christine

I am from Panama and have been making this cake for over 20 years and am constantly making... MORE

Reviewed on dec. 19, 2003 by ARTHURZUNIGA

This is the second recipe that I have tried for Tres Leches, and it came out perfect. I read... MORE

Reviewed on dec. 21, 2007 by Serena

My recipe is nearly identical - except I follow a slightly different method for making the... MORE

Reviewed on nov. 9, 2003 by DICKSIELEE

I love Tres Leches cake but this is not the best recipe. The eggs need to be separated, and... MORE

Reviewed on dec. 25, 2006 by YTGARCIA

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YTGARCIA
dec. 25, 2006

Overall this is a very good recipe. To ensure you have a good cake, make sure you mix the batter halves exactly. To get a good rise to the cake, make you you whip the egg whites to merenge-like batter. Then gently fold in the the flour batter until blended. Do not overmix or your cake will be flat. Bake cake until you have a nice brown top where a toohpick comes out clean and cool. (Hint: in a confection oven, I bake this at 325 degrees for 20 minutes.) As far as the milk mixture goes, I omit the whole milk and just blend together the three milks (hence the name Tres Leches) heavy cream, evaporated milk, and condensed milk together. After you have punched holes into the made cake, pour half the milk mixture into the cake. The cake will absorb the mixture. Refrigerate at least an hour. When serving, I cut out squares of cake out, not using the cake sides. I place a square cake serving into a small bowl. I pour milk mixture on top of the cake until it is all the way to the top or half way to the cake. A small dab of whipped topping and topped with a maraschino cherry and decorate with a tinge of cherry juice over the whipped topping. By the time you will serve this, the milk mixture will be absorbed into the cake. For my tough family of food critics, this recipe gets rave reviews! Thank you for shraing this recipe!

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58 users found this review helpful

Overall this is a very good recipe. To ensure you have a good cake, make sure you mix the... MORE